Zaire ebolavirus
Encyclopedia
Introduction and Use of Term
Zaire ebolavirus is a virological taxonInternational Committee on Taxonomy of Viruses
The International Committee on Taxonomy of Viruses is a committee which authorizes and organizes the taxonomic classification of viruses. They have developed a universal taxonomic scheme for viruses and aim to describe all the viruses of living organisms. Members of the committee are considered to...
included in the genus Ebolavirus
Ebolavirus
The genus Ebolavirus is a virological taxon included in the family Filoviridae, order Mononegavirales.This genus was introduced in 1998 as the "Ebola-like viruses". In 2002 the name was changed to Ebolavirus and in 2010 the genus was emended....
, family Filoviridae
Filoviridae
The family Filoviridae is the taxonomic home of several related viruses that form filamentous virions. Two members of the family that are commonly known are Ebola virus and Marburg virus. Both viruses, and some of their lesser known relatives, cause severe disease in humans and nonhuman primates in...
, order Mononegavirales
Mononegavirales
The order Mononegavirales is the taxonomic home of numerous related viruses. Members of the order that are commonly known are, for instance, Ebola virus, human respiratory syncytial virus, measles virus, mumps virus, Nipah virus, and rabies virus. All of these viruses cause significant disease in...
. The species has a single virus
Virus
A virus is a small infectious agent that can replicate only inside the living cells of organisms. Viruses infect all types of organisms, from animals and plants to bacteria and archaea...
member, Ebola virus
Ebola virus
Ebola virus causes severe disease in humans and in nonhuman primates in the form of viral hemorrhagic fever. EBOV is a Select Agent, World Health Organization Risk Group 4 Pathogen , National Institutes of Health/National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases Category A Priority Pathogen,...
(EBOV). The members of the species are called Zaire ebolaviruses. The name Zaire ebolavirus is derived from Zaire
Zaire
The Republic of Zaire was the name of the present Democratic Republic of the Congo between 27 October 1971 and 17 May 1997. The name of Zaire derives from the , itself an adaptation of the Kongo word nzere or nzadi, or "the river that swallows all rivers".-Self-proclaimed Father of the Nation:In...
(the country in which Ebola virus
Ebola virus
Ebola virus causes severe disease in humans and in nonhuman primates in the form of viral hemorrhagic fever. EBOV is a Select Agent, World Health Organization Risk Group 4 Pathogen , National Institutes of Health/National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases Category A Priority Pathogen,...
was first discovered) and the taxonomic
Taxonomy
Taxonomy is the science of identifying and naming species, and arranging them into a classification. The field of taxonomy, sometimes referred to as "biological taxonomy", revolves around the description and use of taxonomic units, known as taxa...
suffix
Suffix
In linguistics, a suffix is an affix which is placed after the stem of a word. Common examples are case endings, which indicate the grammatical case of nouns or adjectives, and verb endings, which form the conjugation of verbs...
ebolavirus (which denotes an ebolavirus species). Zaire ebolavirus is pronounced zɑː’ɪər iːˌboʊlə’vɑɪrəs (IPA) or zah-eer ee-boh-luh-vahy-ruhs in English phonetic notation. According to the rules for taxon naming established by the International Committee on Taxonomy of Viruses
International Committee on Taxonomy of Viruses
The International Committee on Taxonomy of Viruses is a committee which authorizes and organizes the taxonomic classification of viruses. They have developed a universal taxonomic scheme for viruses and aim to describe all the viruses of living organisms. Members of the committee are considered to...
(ICTV), the name Zaire ebolavirus is always to be capitalized
Capitalization
Capitalization is writing a word with its first letter as a majuscule and the remaining letters in minuscules . This of course only applies to those writing systems which have a case distinction...
, italicized
Italic type
In typography, italic type is a cursive typeface based on a stylized form of calligraphic handwriting. Owing to the influence from calligraphy, such typefaces often slant slightly to the right. Different glyph shapes from roman type are also usually used—another influence from calligraphy...
, never abbreviated, and to be preceded by the word "species". The names of its members (Zaire ebolaviruses) are to be capitalized, are not italicized, and used without articles
Article (grammar)
An article is a word that combines with a noun to indicate the type of reference being made by the noun. Articles specify the grammatical definiteness of the noun, in some languages extending to volume or numerical scope. The articles in the English language are the and a/an, and some...
.
Previous designations
The species was introduced in 1998 as Zaire Ebola virus. In 2002, the name was changed to Zaire ebolavirus.Species inclusion criteria
A virus of the genus EbolavirusEbolavirus
The genus Ebolavirus is a virological taxon included in the family Filoviridae, order Mononegavirales.This genus was introduced in 1998 as the "Ebola-like viruses". In 2002 the name was changed to Ebolavirus and in 2010 the genus was emended....
is a member of the species Zaire ebolavirus if:
- it is endemic in the Democratic Republic of the CongoDemocratic Republic of the CongoThe Democratic Republic of the Congo is a state located in Central Africa. It is the second largest country in Africa by area and the eleventh largest in the world...
and/or GabonGabonGabon , officially the Gabonese Republic is a state in west central Africa sharing borders with Equatorial Guinea to the northwest, Cameroon to the north, and with the Republic of the Congo curving around the east and south. The Gulf of Guinea, an arm of the Atlantic Ocean is to the west...
and/or the Republic of the CongoRepublic of the CongoThe Republic of the Congo , sometimes known locally as Congo-Brazzaville, is a state in Central Africa. It is bordered by Gabon, Cameroon, the Central African Republic, the Democratic Republic of the Congo , the Angolan exclave province of Cabinda, and the Gulf of Guinea.The region was dominated by... - it has a genome with three gene overlaps (VP35/VP40, GP/VP30, VP24/L)
- it has a genomic sequence different from Ebola virusEbola virusEbola virus causes severe disease in humans and in nonhuman primates in the form of viral hemorrhagic fever. EBOV is a Select Agent, World Health Organization Risk Group 4 Pathogen , National Institutes of Health/National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases Category A Priority Pathogen,...
by <30%